It is appropriate to begin a new paragraph here for a new subject, as in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation.

And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was a valiant man of Kabzeel, a doer of great deeds: In the Masoretic Text this sentence is literally “Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, son of a man of valor, of numerous exploits, from Kabzeel” (so La Bible Pléiade). Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente is similar with “Benaiah, son of Jehoiada and grandson of a valiant warrior, was from Kabzeel and he accomplished numerous exploits.” The Syriac omits the words “son of” after the name “Jehoiada” and is followed by most translations (for example, Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Revised English Bible). Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives an {A} rating to the Masoretic Text. The punctuation in the Masoretic Text suggests that the words “man of valor” refer either to the father or grandfather of Benaiah.

Kabzeel was a city in southern Judah, near Edom (see Josh 15.21). It will be important in many languages to supply the classifier term “city” to distinguish it from a region or country.

He smote two ariels of Moab: The pronoun he is emphatic in Hebrew. It is also emphatic before the verb went down in this verse and before the verb “slew” in the next verse. Bible de Jérusalem maintains the emphatic force of these pronouns by saying “It was he who smote … and it was he who went down … 23 It was he also who killed….” Revised English Bible and New Jerusalem Bible keep the emphasis only on the first pronoun.

Two ariels is literally “two of ariel.” The exact meaning of the Hebrew word transliterated ariels is unknown, as the Revised Standard Version footnote states. Among the various ways of understanding this word are the following:

• (1) It may mean “lion of God” (ʾari is “lion” in Hebrew; ʾel is “God”), in which case it probably should be translated “champions” (New Living Translation, Revised English Bible), “distinguished soldiers” (God’s Word) or “great … warriors” (Good News Translation). King James Version says “lionlike men.” Braun claims that this word is a technical term applied to foreign military leaders, but this interpretation is disputed by others. The most likely meaning of two ariels of Moab is “two of the best fighters from the land of Moab,” “two Moabite heroes” (American Bible), “two heroes of Moab” (English Standard Version), or “two formidable Moabites” (New Jerusalem Bible). This interpretation is followed by Good News Translation, New International Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version, God’s Word, Revised English Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, and Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente.

• (2) It may mean “altar hearth” as in Ezek 43.15-16. Jewish Publication Version reads “the two altar-hearths of Moab,” but what this would mean is not clear.

• (3) Revised Standard Version simply transliterates the Hebrew noun. Nouvelle Bible Segond also does this but capitalizes the noun to show that it is a title of some kind, saying “the two Ariels of Moab.” But it is better to translate the probable meaning rather than to transliterate the Hebrew noun.

• (4) A number of modern versions understand ariel as the proper name “Ariel” and add the words “sons of,” that is, “[the] two sons of Ariel of Moab” (New Revised Standard Version, New American Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, An American Translation, La Bible Pléiade, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Menge). According to this interpretation, the Hebrew word beney (“sons of”) was accidentally skipped over by a scribe since the preceding word sheney (“two of”) ended in the same letters. Ariel does occur as a proper name in Ezra 8.16.

• (5) Moffatt emends the Hebrew slightly to read “two lion-cubs in their lair.”

He also went down and slew a lion in a pit on a day when snow had fallen: In languages where lions are unknown, a more generic expression such as “very ferocious animal” may be used without changing the meaning of the text or falsifying the historical facts. However, it would be unwise to translate lion by using another specific animal since this would change the culture of the Bible. The Hebrew word translated pit is the same one translated “well” in verses 17-18. Here it refers to a hole in the ground.

The reference to snow may have been given to indicate the way the lion was tracked down by the hunter, or it may be used to show that the severe cold drove the lion to the village in search of food. It is also possible that the snow indicates a greater danger since the ground would have been slippery. Snow is referred to about twenty times in the Old Testament, most often in the book of Job. It is frequently used figuratively (for example, Exo 4.6; Psa 51.7). There are also two references to snow in the New Testament (Matt 28.3; Rev 1.14), both of which are figurative. But in this verse literal snow is in view, so we advise translators not to substitute rain or hail for snow here. In languages where snow is unknown, there are several possible solutions. Some will simply borrow the term from a world language like French, English or Spanish, and spell it according to the rules of the receptor language. And in some cases where the word for “rain” is considered as a generic term for anything falling from the sky, it may be used as a kind of classifier term to go with the borrowed word for snow, for example, “rain called snow.” Some translators have tried using a descriptive expression such as “small cold flakes that fall from the sky like rain,” although in many languages this may sound very awkward. Finally, some think it adequate in this context to translate on a day when snow had fallen as “in a time of great cold,” although this is a less satisfactory way to resolve the problem. Whatever solution is adopted, it may be a good idea to add an explanatory footnote or include the term used in the glossary.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .